Feeding mechanism for slicing machines



Oct. 16, 1934. A VAN DUYN 1,977,463

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SLICING MACHINES Filed Aug. 21, 19 30 2 Sheets-Sheet l W Ill.

Oct. 16, A. VAN D Y 1,977,463

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SLICING MACHINES Filed Aug. 21, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 16, 1934 tenses FEEDING ivraonzmrsn Fon suonvc MACHINES Adria-nus van .Duyn, Hillegersberg, Netherlands, assignor to U. S. Slicing Machine Company, La Porte, Ind, a corporation of Indiana Application August 21, 1930, Serial No. 476,814 ll-nGreat Britain September 10, 1929 16 Claims.

The present invention relates to slicing ma chines and particularly that type of slicing machine in which the substance is fed with a step by step movement towards the cutting plane of tion towards the cutting plane of the knife, or

the feed plate is superimposed on :the substance support, and the substance is clamped directly to the feed plate and moved towards the .cutting plane of the knife by said feed plate.

An object of the present invention is to obviate certain disadvantages of prior known slicing machines and in order to accomplish this object I prefer to provide a plurality of substance supporting slides which are mounted on a base plate, these slides being combined with suitable feeding mechanism adapted to positively feed the substance towards the cutting plane of the knife. Preferably the substance supporting slides are provided with clamping means by which the substance can be securely clamped thereto.

Another object of this invention is to make the supporting surfaces of the slides above the level of the base plate for a purpose which will be hereinafter fully described. I

Other objects of I this invention will appear hereinafter as the description thereof proceeds, the novel features and combinations being pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings- Fig. 1 represents a side elevational view of a slicing machine embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational VlW of the slicing machine shown in Fig. 1 and looking from the right in that figure;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the substance supporting carriage and associated mechanism, the clamping means being removed for the sakeof clearness; i

Fig. 4 is a section taken substantially along the line i -4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. '5 is an enlarged detailed. view of part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 4; I

Fig. 6 is a cross-section takenv entire line 6--6 of Fig. 5;

Fig; '7 is a section taken substantially along the line 7--"7 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 showing a modified construction.

The slicing machine comprises a base 1 and a carriage 2 which reciprocates on the base 1. The mounting for the carriage 2 is as follows:

Aguide rod 3 supported on the brackets 4 which in turn are carried by the base 1 engages a bearing 5 on one side of the carriage 2 to guide the carriage in its longitudinal movement relatively to the base. The other side of the carriage r The carriage is reciprocated by a crank and I pitman connection in a manner which is common to machines of this nature. The crank is indicated at 9 and the pitman isindicated at 10, these two elements being pivotally connected at 11 and the pitman 10 being also pivotally connected at 12 to the carriage. The crank 9 is secured to a shaft which extends into the base of the machine, and this shaft carries a suitable gear meshing with another gear on a shaft which extends longitudinally of the base and to which is secured the fly-wheel 13 having a handle '14 for rotating the same. Therefore, when the fiy-wheel 13 is rotated by the handle 14, the crank and pitman connection will cause the table to reciprocate longitudinally of the base member. A slicing knife 15 rotatably mounted adjacent one edge of the carriage is adapted to out slices from the substance supported on the carriage as the carriage moves past the slicing knife. The knife may be rotated in any suitable manner.

The mechanism so far described is common to slicing machines of this nature, and therefore it is believed that no further description of these parts need be made except insofar as theymay be modified by the present invention.

As stated before the invention resides chiefly in the construction of the slicing machine carriages and t e means for feeding the substance towards the cutting plane of the knife. As'is seen most clearly in Figs. 3 and 4, the carriage 2 has dove-tailed recesses 16 on opposite sides thereof and extending in a direction towards the cutting plane of the knife, and a feed plate 17 supported on the carriage '2 has suitable dovetailed portions 18 on opposite sides thereof cooperating with the dove-tailed guides in the base 2 so that the feed plate is positively guided in a direction towards the cutting plane of the knife.

The feed plate comprises a cross-member 19 and substance supporting slides 20 which carry the upright prongs 21. The slides 20 slide in suitable grooves 22 formed in the base 2, the grooves being preferably of the same contour as the adjacent surfaces of the slide members. It will be noted from an inspection of Fig. 7 that the upper surfaces of the slide members and the adjacent surfaces on the base member form a substantially continuous unbroken supporting surface which is substantially undulating although not necessarily so. The undulations are for a purpose which will appear hereinafter.

The feed plate carries a plurality of uprights 23 which in turn are adapted to slidably support the bearing members 24 and the clamping bar 25 pivoted at opposite ends to the bearing members 24.

The substance to be sliced is placed on the slides and the prongs 21 engage the lower surface thereof. lhe clamping bar is brought down into engagement with the substance S to cause the substance to be forced against the slides with suficient gripping of the substance .to prevent any substantial relative movement between the slides 20 and the substance so that as the feed plate 1'7 is adavnced towards the cutting plane of the knife by a means which. will presently be described, uniform slices will be cut therefrom.

The raised upper surfaces of the slides prevent the clamping bar 25 from clamping the substance too firmly against the portions 26 of the base 2 which lie between the slides 20. In other words, if the supporting surfaces 26 and the supporting surfaces of the slides 20 were in the same plane the clamping pressure on the surfaces 26 would be substantially equal to the clamping pressure on the slides 20. Accordingly such an arrangement would cause the substance to create a considerable retarding effect on the movement of the feed plate towards and from the cutting plane of the knife and this is not desirable. With the slides and surfaces 20 and 26 respectively constructed in the manner illustrated in Fig. 4, the clamping pressure on the surfaces 26 is not as great as it otherwise might be. At the same time those portions of the surfaces 26 which lie between the cutting plane of the knife and the forward edge of the slicing machine table are high enough to properly support the substance being sliced as the substance is being moved towards the cutting plane. With this arrangement also it will be noted that the level of the substance supporting surface remains substantially unchanged throughout the movement of the substance towards the cutting planeiof the knife and therefore the substance is never presented to the knife at an inclination thereto. When the slices are cut with the ordinary slicing machine with one end of the substance supported on a. feed plate, the first slices which are formed may have the sides thereof substantially parallel, but as the substance gets shorter, the inclination of thesubstance downwardly and toward the cutting plane of the knife increases and wedgeshaped slices are formed. This disadvantage iiicreases at a rapid rate as the feed plate nears the cuttingplane of the knife, and as a result, the last slices which are cut become more wedge shaped. The supporting surface of the substance support is not composed of the members 20 but rather of the intervening depressed portions such as 58. When the substance is clamped on the members 20, a portion thereof moves downwardly into engagement with the surfaces 58 on the substance support so that the substance is in reality supported by the main substance support at substantially the same height during the entire feeding movement. Since the portion of the substance, which lies between the clamp and the cutting plane of the knife is not clamped, this portion rests upon the intervening supporting surface 58 so that the bottom side of the supported substance issubstantially in the same plane as the bottom portion which is clamped.

The difference in height between the top of the bars 20 and the intervening spaces is such that the meat rests on the surface 58 along its entire length up to the cutting edge of the knife and even between the bars 20 and due to the clamping pressure, the under side of the meat is substantially undulated along its bottom surface. The sharp longitudinal grooves 22 offer anobstruction to the displacement of the meat in the direction of reciprocation of the table, and since the grooves extend all the way to the cutting plane of the knife, the effectiveness of the edges of the grooves to pre vent displacement of the meat is not lost near the cutting plane of the knife where it is most effective. Also the sloping sides of the bars 20 serve substantially the same purpose and prevent lateral displacement of the substance beneath the clamp during the cutting operation.

I will now describe the mechanism for feeding the feed plate towards the cutting plane of the knife. This comprises a feed screw 27 journaled in suitable bearings 28 and 29 in the carriage 2 and one end of the feed screw carries the ratchet wheel 30. An arm 31 is pivoted at 32 to the end of the feed screw 27. A spring 33 secured at 34 to the carriage 2 and at 35 to the arm 31 is adapted to rotate the arm in a clockwise direction and into engagement with a suitable stop 36 on the carriage 2. A pawl 3'7 is adapted to prevent clockwise movement of the ratchet wheel as viewed in Fig. 1. The pawl 37 is rotatably mounted on the carriage and may be spring pressed in a counter -clockwise direction if desired. A pawl 38 pivoted at 39 to the arm 31 is adapted to engage the teeth on the ratchet to rotate the feed screw in a counter-clockwise direction. The end of the arm 31 opposite to that on which the pawl 38 is'mounted is adapted to be struck by means of the adjustable stop 40 secured in the bracket 41 and adjustable by means of a gear on the shaft 42 and a rack 43 formed integral with or secured to the stop 40. Any form of adjustable stop may be used as this is not a part of applicants invention.

The stop 40 is adapted to strike the lower end of the arm 31 when the carriage moves to the left as viewed in Fig. 1, therebyiirnparting a counter-clockwise movement to the feed screw 2'7. A spring pressed nut 44' carried by the feed plate is adapted to engage the threads on the feed srcew 2'7 to cause the feed plate to move towards the cutting plane'of the knife as the feed screw is rotated.

The feed nut 44 has a bearing portion 45 slidable within a suitable recess 46 in the feed plate and is yieldingly'urged in a downward direction by means of a spring 4'7 arranged within the recess 46. A pin 48 extends through the bearing portion 15 and co-operates with thcslcts 49 proedges of the which lie between said slides a substantiallycontinuous undulating supporting surface for the substance to be moved in a direction transversely of the direction of movement of said slides.

8. In a slicing machine, the combination with a substance supporting carriage, of a feed plate comprising a series of separated elements extending in the direction of feeding movement and having spaces of substantial width therebetween, a common means for connecting said elements to cause them to act as a unitary feed plate and guiding means for said feed plate, said elements having their upper substance supporting surfaces extending above the supporting surface of said carriage and sloping toward the ad.- jacent portions of the surface 10f the said carriage which lies between said elements.

9. A substance support for slicing machines comprising a member having a substance supporting surface composed of a series of raised and depressed substance engaging portions ofsubstantial length, each extending in the general direction of feeding movement and being arranged side by side in a direction transversely to the feeding movement, the spaces between adjacent raised portions being of appreciable width to expose appreciable portions of the depressed portions therebetween, whereby the substance may have portions of the under sides thereof forced into contact with depressed portions when a' clamping force is applied to the substance, while the raised portions bear the major portion of the clamping force, and means for moving said raised portions relatively to said depressed portions inthe general direction of feeding movement,

10. In a slicing machine, the combination with a main substance support, grooves in the supporting surface of said support, members of substantial length guided by each of saidgrooves and arranged therein, said members being adapted to support the substance to, be sliced and being spaced from each other sufficiently to permit the substance being sliced to be moved downwardly therebetween into engagement with the intervenbars are fed there along.

11. A substance support for slicing machines having a knife, comprising a member having a plurality of slides upon which the substance is held as it is fed toward the knife, said member having grooves therein, slides slidably mounted in said grooves, said slides being spaced from each other sufficiently to expose portions of said member there-between and having their supporting surfaces higherthan the intervening surfaces on said member and being spaced from each other a sumcient distance to permit the substance to be partially supported on the portions of said member which lie between said slides and below the 7 upper surfaces of said slides, whereby the upper 12 In a slicing machine, the combination with a knife, of a main substance supporting carriage, grooves in said carriage, members guided by each of said grooves, an integrally formed tie bar for connecting said members to cause the same to move in-unison with each other along said grooves, and means for feeding said members in unison along said grooves towardthe cutting plane of said knife, the ends of said members extending in a direction toward the cutting plane of said knife being unconnected with each other, said grooves extending all the way to the edge of said substance carriage which lies adjacent the cutting plane of the knife and being open at their ends adjacent said plane to permit the free ends of said members to travel along said grooves substantially into the plane of the edge of said carriage which lies adjacent the edge of the cutting plane, the upper surfaces of said member being raisedappreciably above the surfaces of said carriage which lie between said grooves, whereby the upper surfaces of said member bear the major portion of the clamping pressure when a clamping pressure is applied to the substance.

13. In a substance support for slicing machines, thecombinationwith a main substance supporting table having spaced substance supporting surfaces thereon extending parallel to each other and substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of the knife for a considerable distance, movable supporting members arranged between said substance supporting surfaces and extending parallel thereto and being raised slightly above said supporting surfaces whereby when a clamping pressure-is applied to a substance on said support, the supporting members sustain the major portion of the clamping pressure, whereby the portions of the substance contacting with said first mentioned surfaces will not materially irnpede the forward movement of the substance in a direction parallel to said members, a clamp movable withsaid members for clamping a substance against said members and to force a portion thereof into engagement with said supporting surfaces, whereby the under side of the substance at the clamping position is brought into substantially the same plane as the said supporting surfaces and the supporting portion of the substance support between'said slides and the cutting plane of said knife.

14. In a slicing machine, the combination with a slicing knife, of a main substance supporting carriage adjacent the cutting edge of said knife having an, imperforate bottom on the portion thereof which lies adjacent the cutting plane of said knife, guiding mechanismfor said carriage beneath the imperforate bottom of said carriage and protected thereby, said upper surface having rooves therein extending in a direction toward the cutting plane of said knife from a point remote from the cutting plane of said knife, members guided by each of said grooves, an integrally formed tie bar for connecting said members to cause the same to move in unison with each other along said grooves, and means for feeding said members in unison along said grooves toward the cutting plane of said knife, the ends of said members, extending in a direction toward the cutting plane of said knife, being unconnected with each other, said grooves extending all the way to the edge of said substance carriage which lies adjacent the cutting plane of the knife, and being open at the ends adjacent said plane to permit the free ends'of said members to travel along said grooves substantially into the plane of the edge of said carriage which lies adjacent the cutting plane.

15. In a slicing machine, the combination with a slicing knife, of a main substance supporting carriage adjacent the cutting edge of said knife having an imperforate bottom on the portion thereof which lies adjacent the cutting plane of said knife, guiding mechanism for said carriage beneath the imperforate bottom of said carriage and protected thereby, said upper surface having grooves therein extending in a direction toward the cutting plane of said knife from a point remote from the cutting plane of said knife, members guided by each of said grooves and arranged therein, said members being adapted to support the substance to be sliced and being spaced from each other suficiently to permit the substance being sliced to be moved downwardly therebetween into engagement with the intervening portions of said main substance support, and means for moving said members toward the edge of said support at which the slices are cut, said grooves extending to the end of said support at which the slices are cut, and the ends of said members which lie adjacent the edge of said support at which the slices are out being unconnected with each other whereby the movement of the substance along said support progresses smoothly and uninterruptedly while said members are fed there-along.

16. In a slicingmachine, the combination with a substance supporting carriage having a substance supporting surface, of a feed plate comprising a series of separated elements extending in the direction of feeding movement and having spaces of substantial width therebetween, a common means for connecting said elements to cause them to act as a unitary feed plate and guiding means for said feed plate, said elements having their upper substance supporting surfaces extending a substantial distance above the supporting surface of said carriage, whereby the friction of the substance as regards the substance supporting surface of the carriage is materially reduced.

ADRIANUS VAN DUYN. 

